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Medical Marihuana 101

At left, Shelly Edgerton, director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, presents “Michigan Medical Marihuana 101” in the West Science Facility at Northern Michigan University on Wednesday. Edgerton talked about medical cannabis in the state and related issues. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — How will medical cannabis be regulated?

Shelly Edgerton, director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, presented “Michigan Medical Marihuana101” at Northern Michigan University Wednesday, although she prefers the term cannabis.

“We shouldn’t even say marihuana,” Edgerton said. “Marihuana is really a slang word.”

By the way, the word originally was spelled with an “h” in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, although “marijuana” also is acceptable.

LARA oversees the state’s medical cannabis regulations.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Program is a state-registry program within the Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation at LARA. MMMP administers the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which voters approved in 2008. That legislation allows qualified patients and registered caregivers to use cannabis for specified medical conditions.

In 2016, the Michigan Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law three bills that create a licensing and regulatory framework for medical cannabis.

One of them, House Bill 4209, licenses and regulates the five license types: medical cannabis growers, processors, secure transporters, safety compliance facilities and provisioning centers, which commonly were called dispensaries.

“With that is where we now have the new framework, the new regime of how we’re going to deal with the industry going forward,” Edgerton said.

Edgerton gave an overview of medical cannabis in Michigan.

“Michigan probably has one of the largest growing patient populations compared to California,” Edgerton said. “So, you think about that. California’s population, Michigan’s population — we’re at close to 300,000 patients.”

And Michigan’s growing past that, she said.

The Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act requires the setting of application fee amounts for each category and class of license by rule.

Also, Edgerton said licensees will have to be prepared to pay a regulatory assessment fee, which is applied to all licenses.

“There’s a lot of money, you know, that a potential licensee has to come forward with to be in a regulated market,” Edgerton said.

They also will have to deal with the basic functions of running a small business, such as insurance, workers compensation and human resources programs.

“We’re trying to bring what is now kind of a gray market into a regulated market,” Edgerton said.

People who apply for a license will have to undergo a background check and public records search, she said, with testing to take place before people grow, sell and process. Also, an individual can’t be a grower and a tester at the same time.

She pointed out there is no database for local municipalities that accept cannabis businesses.

“We probably will build it once we start getting all the applications in and we’ll be able to highlight that on our website,” Edgerton said.

Edgerton was the inaugural speaker for the NMU medicinal plant chemistry program’s lecture series, which will feature experts from industry topics, including regulation and law, manufacturing and production, laboratory analysis, research and development, and marketing/communication.

Medicinal Plant Chemistry at NMU is the only four-year undergraduate degree program of its kind, with the goal of preparing students for success in emerging industries relating to medicinal plant production, analysis and distribution.

According to NMU, increasing legitimacy and legality of medicinal plants nationwide has created a great demand for qualified technical personnel and an opportunity for skilled entrepreneurs in the cannabis, herbal extract and natural product industries.

“It’s really something new from a ground-floor perspective,” said Edgerton, who noted that it’s impressive NMU is directing people into what probably will be highly needed jobs.

In a 2015, Forbes called legal cannabis the best startup opportunity, noting most of those businesses quickly were becoming profitable.

“This industry goes 90 mph,” Edgerton said. “It is constantly evolving. Somebody’s coming up with a new technology. Somebody’s coming up with a new device. Somebody’s coming up with a way to grow and make a profit — faster, quicker.”

She said a huge expansion of the number of potential jobs has been noticed.

“This industry demands a lot of jobs,” Edgerton said.

She noted, though, a science background will help.

“That’s where it’s going,” Edgerton said.

For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/lara and click on the Medical Marihuana Regulation tab.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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